


That Quarantine Life (i.e. lets Be More Quarantine)

by Heere_I_Go_Again



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23308204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heere_I_Go_Again/pseuds/Heere_I_Go_Again
Summary: Some fun short works and drabbles for the Be More Quarantine Challenge
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Be More Musical: Senior Year

**Author's Note:**

> The happenings of Christine's senior musical opening night

Christine was absolutely not panicking. It was opening night of the spring play and she was going to be late. To be fair, she was the lead so the show wouldn't start without her. At least she sure hoped it wouldn't. Finishing the last stitch, she grabbed the bundle of red fabric and all but sprinted out of her house towards the school. As she was running, she kept going through the list of things she had to do before the show: hair, makeup, mic checks, costumes, soundcheck. Gah, why did she have to be in charge of everything? You know, sometimes being the dubbed theater girl in school had its downsides. She just has to focus on the play itself. The feeling of being on stage, surrounded by lights and props and other actors, life couldn't be better than that. Yeah, that made everything worth it. Besides, this year's play was pretty good as far as Mr. Reyes' upgraded versions went. A twist on little red riding hood and she got to be the lead! She could do this. 

Christine finally made it to the school and marched backstage, ordering everyone to finish the various preparations. She finally let out a sigh of relief now that at least some things were getting done. Now to go get herself ready. After her hair and makeup were done she (maybe just a bit too dramatically) threw her authentic hand-sewn red cloak on and got into character before going onstage just in time. 

***

The red riding hood werewolf thriller went as well as one would expect. Definitely better than the previous year's play. Of course, the high school cast got a round of approving, if not slightly worried, applause before they made their way to their celebration. Everyone knows that a play premiere is only as good as the cast party. Christine was ecstatic that she was able to show all of her friends how a cast party was supposed to be. Grabbing hold of Jeremy and Brooke, she led the crew to the only place good enough for them to celebrate. The 24-hour diner five minutes from the school.

"Christine. You're kidding, right?" Jeremy looked at her like she was crazy, endearingly crazy but nuts all the same. Glancing around, his thoughts were shared by the others. 

"You haven't lived until you've cast partied here though! Did you know this is the only diner in town that lets you do performance art? I've done it every year and the owners have never once kicked me out!" They all sat down at a corner booth and Christine's excited energy seemed to spread through the doubtful group, thankfully changing the mood. Even Chloe perked up a little bit from her normally stoic self. 

After a few milkshakes, Christine had an idea erupt. "Okay cast and crew, I have a plan. Split into teams. I'll be a team leader, um, Jeremy, you can be a team leader too, and lastly," she scanned the faces before settling on the red-hoodie clad teen, "Michael! Can't have you and Jeremy on the same team. That would be cheating." After a few mumbled grumbles, they agreed and the team split up. 

The teams ended as Christine, Brooke, and Chloe on team Girl Power, Michael, Jenna, and Jake as team Not Into It, and Jeremy, Rich, and an uninvited Mr. Reyes on team Drama Boys (all kindly named by the queen of drama herself, Christine). It was decided that they all would get thirty minutes to create their art and perform it for the others. 

Team Girl Power decided on a combination of their own loves of shopping and renaissance. They performed first as they were prepared first and, if the group was honest, they were the only ones who really knew what they were doing thanks to Christine. Of course, it wasn't flawless and ended with two orders of fries spilled on the floor and a glare from the group of truckers across the diner. After their performance, though, things quickly went downhill.

Team Not Into It as a whole was less enthusiastic. They ended up as doing a weird compilation of rap, pop, and reggae recounting the horrors of teen life which, all in all, was not the worst. Surprisingly, they pulled it together which everyone was a bit shocked about. In a way, they may have outdone the previous team. Of course, that way was the fact that no one was upset about half of their fries being on the floor but they would count it as a win. Their secret? Not that they would tell anyone, but a couple of how-to searches on how to do performance art gave pretty solid ideas. Who would have thought that looking up how to mix rap and reggae for teens would give them an in-detail example? The magic of the internet.

Of course, team Drama Boys was the exception to these performances. Rich and Jeremy had a similar idea as Michael's team. They looked it up and found a piece dealing with the dangers of relying on technology. Mr. Reyes didn't really input anything and they weren't complaining. They didn't even know how he ended up there with them but he did usually find a way to, didn't he? They thought they had a solid idea. Getting up and performing it, though, was a different story. As they began, Jeremy whipped out his phone, opening it up to his safari explorer. Dramatified, he held it up, just in time for Mr. Reyes to snatch it out of his hand. Thinking he was adding to the art, the teacher took a red marker and Xed out the screen. Somewhere, definitely far from the diner, far far from the diner, a girly scream could be heard. As Jeremy mourned for his ruined technology, Rich tried, in vain, to grab the phone from Mr. Reyes. Eventually, the older man let him have it and the piece was brought to an end. Jeremy cradled his phone, trying to wipe off the unfortunate marker lines. 

Everyone sat there quietly for a moment before Christine started clapping wildly, bringing the rest in. Whether purposeful or not, none of them could deny that it was solid performance art. And that is how somehow, someway, team Drama Boys was rightly declared the performance art champions of the year. 

This would, in the future, become a yearly occurrence, though without the oldest participant. And every year, Christine would leave with a warm feeling in her chest and glad that she somehow got thrown into this ragtag crew of friends.


	2. The one where they're living in 2020

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few years into college, Michael and Jeremy are sent off into an impossible task: To find toilet paper.

It was their third year in college and, all in all, things had been going pretty well. Jeremy's life had gotten into a steady normal and anyone could see he was happy. He and Michael had lived in the dorms together for the first two years but decided to move out and rent a house with Christine. It was nice. He got to be both a gamer nerd and a drama nerd with his two best friends in the entire world. And it was college so he was really cool in both realms (no one else but the trio would agree though). However, the negative to being a junior in college who is happy in their life with their best friends is that they pay no attention to the outside world. Mainly current events. Mainly any news that might upset their perfect life. Mainly a potential nationwide quarantine. 

It's not that he didn't know about it, he just thought that maybe just maybe ignoring it would make it go away. He quickly learned, when he got home that day, that it was real.

He walked into the door expecting the usual scene of Michael gaming and Christine writing yet another play for her class. That was not, however, what he got. 

What he did get, however, was the panicked look of his best friend who was clutching their broom in a far more defensive position than even unexpected. "Jeremy! Thank God you're home. You need to go right now!" Michael dropped the broom he was holding to try and push his friend out the door. 

Unfortunately, he didn't get away soon enough as Christine came crashing around the corner, a wild look in her eyes. "Jeremy!!! We're all gonna die! I don't want to die! I'm too young! I haven't even been on Broadway yet!"

He looked over to the other roommate before asking, "What happened?" 

This only resulted in a crying Christine and an exhausted look from Michael before he gave the explanation, "You know how everyone has been buying out toilet paper? Well turns out _someone_ forgot to buy some last week when I said we were low and now we're out. Like completely out."

"Oh. Yeah, that's my bad." He cringed internally, only now remembering the request, "To be fair, I wasn't expecting the stores to be out like this."

This must have set Christine off again from her slightly more calm panic. She marched up and grabbed Jeremy's collar to pull him down to her level. "Listen here. I don't care if you have to go to every store in the city, I want you to go out there and bring back as many rolls of toilet paper as you can. And I don't want you to come back until you have it. I don't care how long it takes. I refuse to die with no toilet paper in this house. Now go." She let go of his collar before glaring at Michael, "You too. You're both at fault in this."

With that, the pair had no choice but to go on their mission, knowing it was better to not argue with her when she got like this. They headed out to the first store. 

"Empty?! How are the shelves completely empty?! There's not even that many people around here!" Jeremy couldn't believe the bare shelves he stood before. Never had he seen so many aisles completely empty like this. Michael looked just as shocked as he was.

"Well come on. I'm sure there's got to be one store around here that has at least one roll left." So they left store one and went to stores two, three, and four to no avail. 

At store number five, Jeremy had the beginnings of a plan concocted. A horrible plan, yes, but still a plan. And it could work. He would just have to convince Michael. As they stared at the fifth bare shelf of the day, he decided to give it a go. "Michael, we're never going to find it this way. What if we-"

"No. I know what you're going to say and it's no. It's too dangerous."

"Oh come on. You know it would know where we could find some. And you still have like three bottles of Mountain Dew Red in the car plus the extra twelve at home. It's the only way and you know it. We'll be out here for days otherwise." 

This earned a glare from Michael which he returned with a determine stare until the glare faded as the boy relented. "Fine. But only because I don't want to deal with Christine's wrath."

With that, they scavenged the store to find Mountain Dew. Thankfully people were a little less worried about caffeine consumption than they were with toilet paper. When they bought it and got back to the car, Jeremy took a big drink and waited for the familiar figure to appear. It didn't take long this time.

_"Oh good. You're back. Miss me?"_

"Listen. All I need from you is to find-"

_"Toilet paper. Yes, I know. I am inside your head, don't forget. There is one place you can get it from."_

"Well great. What store?" Jeremy looked expectantly at the invisible figure before him.

The squip shook his head, " _Not a store. There is an abandoned doomsday cabin nearby. It should have more than enough for you."_

Jeremy huffed out a sigh then turned to his waiting friend. "He says there's some cabin in the woods nearby that is stocked up and it's the only place in town."

"You're kidding, right? That thing expects us just to blindly wander around and steal someone else's stock?"

Jeremy just shrugged. "It says drive north until it tells us to stop and then it'll show us the rest of the way on foot." 

Michael wanted to argue but he knew that the supercomputer was probably right so he started the drive. They kept driving for about twenty minutes until they ended up on a winding road surrounded by tall trees. Neither boy realized until now that it was nearing dusk and getting dark out. Hopefully, they could make this a fast errand. The squip practically screamed in Jeremy's head to stop in the middle of the road and Jeremy squeaked at Michael, who had laid claim on driving, to pull over as soon as possible.

_"Now. In order to not draw suspicion to anyone watching, your course will have to look random."_ The squip was able to project a map in Jeremy's field of vision, both a 'handheld' version as well as the path laid out. The boy looked at the curving map and thought it looked familiar but could not put his finger on it.

"Okay, follow me. It doesn't look too far away so we can make it quick. Just don't say anything about the path. I know it's dumb." So Michael followed him close behind quietly, allowing Jeremy to focus on the map and path ahead of him. They wandered through the tall woods on this path for about 15 minuted before the blue-clad boy stopped dead in his tracks.

"Jere, what's up? Are we there? I don't see a cabin anywhere near here."

"That's because there isn't a cabin here, is there, squip?" He glared at the smirking squip in front of him, waving the piece of imaginary paper which, to anyone without a squip, would look like he was crazy. "I thought I recognized this map somewhere but I didn't figure it out until now. It's a freaking cursive handwriting guide."

_"Took you long enough to figure it out. I was worried we would be wandering around here forever at that rate."_ The supercomputer would not even feign innocence at this point. He simply looked schemingly proud of himself and a little bit bored, if Jeremy interpreted it correctly.

"But why?"

_"Revenge, Jeremy. This is what you get when you keep doing this. You can't just keep bringing me back when you need something and then deactivate me immediately again."_

Michael was, at this point, pretty confused about what was going on, "Jere please, what is going on?"

His friend looked at him with an award-winning unamused sigh. "The squip is butthurt about the fact that he was only being reactivated for toilet paper so he sent us on a wild goose chase as revenge." 

It was at this point that the boy really wanted to tell him I told you so but knew it wouldn't help anything, so he himself just sighed and turned around to trek back to the empty road. "Come on, I've got some Mountain Dew Red in the car and then you have to call Christine and tell her we couldn't find any." 

"Why me? I don't want all of her wrath! Why can't it be a joint effort?"

"Because you were the one who made us wander around the woods in a cursive z to find a nonexistent cabin instead of looking at more stores."

Jeremy groaned in defeat as he followed back, "Fine. You're right. But next time you're calling her."

They finally got back to the car and Michael tossed the bottle of Mountain Dew Red at the other boy who was clearly annoyed at the invisible supercomputer who had gone as far as singing every pop song he could think of just to annoy his host as a last bit of revenge. Jeremy threw back the bottle, making sure to flip off the deactivating figure as it flickered out of sight. Sighing in a small amount of relief, he sank into the passenger seat in Michael's car. 

He decided to wait until they got home to let Christine know. He figured it was better to wait as long as he could before breaking the news. Give himself a little bit longer to figure out a semi-valid excuse that would ease the anger he was sure to incur. He was, unfortunately, incorrect.

"JEREMY HEERE YOU DID WHAT EXACTLY?!"

"I reactivated the squip," the boy hung his head standing in the doorway.

"And what was the one thing we told you not to do?!"

"Reactivate the squip. I know."

"Then why in the world did you think it was a good idea to do the one thing both me and Michael have told you not to do."

"Because I thought it was a good idea."

"And was it a good idea?"

"Nooo..."

"Well, at least we've got that settled then. Now go upstairs to your room and think about what you did."

Jeremy nodded and followed Christine's instructions, feeling very much like a child being put in time out by their mother. She grabbed hold of his arm before he got too far, though, and turned him back towards her, "And I swear to everything good and musical in this life, if you think it is a good idea and reactivate that thing again, it will be the last thing you ever do. Got it?"

"Got it," Jeremy squeaked out his response, wanting to get away from his very intense roommate and her glare as soon as possible. He was finally released and all but scurried out of the room and into his own, regretting everything about what had happened that day. Did he regret it because he was sorry for reactivating the squip? Maybe. Did he regret it solely due to the consequence of seeing Christine seething at him and mom-ing him? Far more likely. Either way, he would definitely think twice before reactivating the voice in his head.

Bonus:

"Did you have to threaten him like that? We both know you aren't going to do anything."

"Yes, but he doesn't know that and seeing his face drop in horror every time is priceless, you have to admit. It'll stop him for a while at least."

"You're not wrong about that. But he's got to catch on one of these days."

"Oh please, it's Jeremy. It'll take him years to figure me out."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Um, angel au? I don't know I just kind of wrote and it is what it is. This is a lot darker than I planned on...  
> Also, some violence and character death.

Jeremy was by no means special. He had an ordinary life with ordinary classes and an ordinary best friend. He probably would not even be remembered when he died. Sure, he had a few close friends other than Michael. There were Christine and Rich with their conspiracy obsessions and the others, but he didn't really believe anyone else would care when he did die. He would never imagine how wrong he truly was about that. 

It was the beginning of his senior year and, after several occurrences he would rather not remember, Jeremy could finally say he was in a good place. A solid group of friends and graduation to look forward to would do that to anyone, he guessed. Still, as he and Michael walked out of the first day of school to his friend's car, he would say he was happy. Nothing could go wrong.

"I'm just saying, dude, it's time for a new car. I know you love it but this thing is falling apart," Jeremy emphasized his point by gesturing to the rusting metal on the sides that had been there longer than the car had been in the boy's possession.

"How could you even say something like that about her? It's like you don't know what we've been through together."

"I'm just saying, it would be worth it to look for one. I overheard Rich say his brother was selling his Corolla. We could check it out."

"Fine. But we're only checking it out. I'm not going to get rid of my baby for anything less than perfection." 

"And I never would expect you to. Now come on, let's go. We've got to be quick if we're going to make it home for the solar eclipse today."

The pair got in the cruiser and went on their way to the apartment that Rich and his older brother shared together with Jake after the unfortunate house fire. They chattered along the way about nothing in particular, but a nice relaxed conversation. They pulled into the apartment complex and found the Goranski car so they decided to park next to it. Turns out, it was a nice silver Corolla, nothing in comparison to the Cruiser, sure, but it definitely looked like a good car. 

Now, Michael wouldn't even consider buying it if his car hadn't had the check engine light on for months or the fact that there were more weird rattling noises than he could count, but he did have to admit that it was probably time to let it go. At least that is what he would tell his friends, anyway. But only he knew the real reason. The reason he would be gone soon. 

He took a quick glance at his watch and then he shook the thought out of his head and turned to his bored-looking friend on the phone. "Is Rich ranting again?"

Jeremy quickly muted his side of the conversation, "Yes. He keeps going on about how there's this conspiracy about guardian angels and random people disappearances being connected and all that. Christine managed to convince him that there's some random person in our town like completely erasing people from existence. Just being Rich, I guess."

"Well hurry up and ask him if his brother is home. This was your idea anyway." 

"Okay, okay. But I'm blaming you when he screams at me for interrupting his conspiracy discussion." He unmuted the phone before addressing the boy on the line, "Alright, yeah, I get it we're all going to die. But like, before we die of old age, can you please answer the question of if your brother is home?"

Michael couldn't hear the response but, from the look on Jeremy's face, he was responding exactly as expected and Michael himself was going to get the blame for it. Still, Rich did let him know that his brother was home so they headed up the complex to the third-floor apartment and knocked.

To their surprise, a woman opened the door, "Can I help you?"

Both boys paused for a moment, checking to see if they had the wrong apartment but confirmed it was the right door with the boys' iconic 'welcome to the shitshow' doormat. Definitely their apartment. So Jeremy decided to speak up, "Sorry. We're looking for Jason Goranski, is he home?"

"Who now?"

"Jason Goranski? Or Rich? Or Jake?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about, but this is my apartment. I've been living here for the past six months." 

"No. You couldn't have because we were both here last week. We've been here at least every other week the entire summer. You can't have possibly lived here the whole time!" Jeremy was getting visibly upset and Michael rested a calming hand on his shoulder, pulling him back slightly due to an uneasy feeling that kept growing. They were in danger. 

He shot his friend a look before forcing a polite smile at the lady, "We must have just gotten the wrong apartment. So sorry to bother you, but we really should be going now." He turned to go, a firm grasp on Jeremy's arm to pull the fuming boy away when all of the boy's weight fell to the ground. Turning to look at what happened, the last thing Michael saw was a cruel grin on the woman's face and a bat swinging towards his head. Yep, they were indeed in danger.

Jeremy woke up with a pounding headache and aching joints. He must have slept wrong last night. Wait? Last night? But he was just at Rich's apartment. He groggily opened his eyes to find himself and Michael leaned up against the wall with his hands hastily bound by duct tape. Panic set in as his head filled with Rich's conspiracy theories. They were going to die and be erased from everything. "Michael! Michael wake up. We have to get out of here."

Michael himself, however, had regained consciousness a few minutes before his panicked friend, taking in the situation far better than his friend. Of course, he had been through worse than this in his life, not that anyone else would know that. However, he had a feeling it was going to get a lot worse. "Jere, I'm here. I'm awake. You need to calm down though, okay? Deep breaths. Everything will be okay. I promise." 

The boy tried calming down, he really did, but it did nothing to calm himself when their attacker entered the room, leisurely swinging Michael's watch as if she hadn't just abducted two boys.

"Oh good. You're finally awake. I was afraid we wouldn't get time to talk before we had to start the ritual," she squatted down in front of the red-clad boy, "Now, where should we begin. You're probably wondering who I am, right?" She barely waited for a response neither boy would give before continuing, "That's unimportant. But you see, my employer told me that I might run into some important people here today and, wouldn't you know it, I did."

While Jeremy was clearly not capable of forming a coherent thought at the moment, Michael responded, "Your employer? And who might that be?"

"Well, you've actually met him before, darling. You know him as the Squip. Don't worry. He'll be here soon."

Whatever sense of calm either boy had was sent running at the name. Michael tried to hold some sense of composure but almost lost it as he heard his friend mumbling no's with his eyes pinched closed. However, the boy in blue snapped his eyes open after a second, "Why? What does he want from me? I told him no. I won't do it."

"Oh don't you worry, Jeremy, I'm not here for you today. I'm here for your little friend." The Squip entered the room with a wicked grin on his face, giving his worker a look before she stood up and left just as quickly, only stopping to pass him the watch. 

To this, Michael scoffed, trying to give off confidence and hide his worry, "Oh please, what could you possibly want with me?"

The Squip leaned in close, dangling the stolen watch in front of the boy, "I think you know."

"Give that back, you thief." Michael tried to steer the conversation to avoid the potential of Jeremy getting dragged in the middle more than he already was.

"I'm not a thief. I'm just," the man paused, "really good at acquiring things. But that's not the point here. The point is that you're running out of time, aren't you?"

Jeremy finally regained composure enough to join in the conversation, "What? What do you mean he's running out of time?"

"You mean you never told Jeremy? Your best friend?"

Michael dropped his eyes to his hands as he took in his friend's confused expression, "Never told me what?"

At this, the Squip couldn't help but grin, "Well, would you like to tell him or should I?"

"You leave him out of this. Just let him go."

"No can do. Guess I'll have to, then." 

"No!" Michael struggled, "Please. Don't."

"Mmm, too late." He turned his attention to Jeremy, sparing a look to the other that seemed to make sure he stayed quiet, "Now, my boy, to keep it real simple, there are angels in our world and your friend, Michael, here is one of them. Surprise." 

Jeremy clearly was doubtful. "You're wrong. Michael, tell him he's wrong."

"Oh, I am not wrong. I am very correct. Here, see for yourself." The man took off his glasses and handed them to the duct-taped boy. "Put these on and you'll see."

The boy took them cautiously, worried this was a trap, as his friend dropped his head in shame for his secret about to be revealed. Jeremy slowly put on the glasses and the world around his friend exploded into light. Attached to Michael's back was a set of glowing white wings. He quickly took the glasses off again, casting them to the side. "What the hell was that?"

"I told you. Your friend is an angel. And tell him what is going to happen in a couple of minutes now that the eclipse has started, Michael."

He had no choice but to explain. He could tell Jeremy was confused and a little bit hurt. It might be wrong to tell him, but he deserved to know. "That watch, it's been counting down the time I have left. Angels are sent down to protect certain humans and, during certain eclipses, their missions will be complete and they have to leave again. Once it becomes a full eclipse, I'll be gone. Forever. I was your guardian angel, Jeremy. What a great job I did..." 

The boy was hurt about the secret, yes, but more so that he was about to lose his best friend. Just like that. But he still couldn't figure out one important detail he felt he was missing, "But then why is he here? What else is there?" 

The Squip decided to let the angel continue the explanations, figuring it wouldn't change anything anyway, so the boy continued. "Well, there's a legend that says if a human were to kill an angel during their final eclipse, said human would inherit the angel's power..."

"No! He can't. I won't let him." Jeremy turned to the Squip, sitting up as tall as he could, "You can't!"

The man simply tutted and pushed him back down, "Oh I can and I will. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're nearly out of time." The Squip grabbed Michael and dragged him to the middle of the room. The boy tried to fight back but knew it was useless. He might be an angel, but he had run out of power long ago. He could hear his friend begging in the background as he closed his eyes to meet his end.

The Squip raised his hand clutching his carved knife and swiftly brought it down, expecting to complete his goal. Jeremy, however, refused to let anything happen to his best friend, angel or not. As a last-ditch effort, he pushed himself up and shoved his body into Michael's, effectively pushing him out of the way. He managed to push his friend out of the way, but not without consequences of his own. He uttered a small, "Michael" before collapsing back to the ground, knife sheathed in his gut. 

Upon realizing what had occurred, Michael was able to react faster than the now angered man and swiftly knocked him off his feet and gave the man a sharp kick in the head to knock him out cold. He then turned to his crying friend and cradled him in his arms. "Shh shh, it's okay. You're going to be okay, remember? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promised you."

Jeremy reached a shaky hand up to the other's face, wiping Michael's own unknown tears away. "C-couldn't let y-you die."

"I know. I know, Jere. But you gotta hold on, okay? I'm your guardian angel, remember? I'm not gonna let you die. I-I'm supposed to save you." He spared a glance out the window, the sky turning purple as the eclipse was near total and he could feel himself fading from the world but he had to hold on.

"Y-you di-did save m-me." Jeremy coughed harshly before relaxing limply into the cradling arms, eyes drooping before softly closing. 

Michael choked back his tears as he watched his best friend fade from life, cradling him closer as he felt himself going too. He gently fixed the boy's hair and softly laid the body down before he allowed himself to fully fade away, vowing to himself to never forget the one he failed, his best friend for eternity.

All that remained was the quiet, a purple eclipse covering the day as if shadowing the world that remained.


	4. Campy Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Squip Squad goes camping. A little bit of chaos and a lot a bit of angst ensues.   
> Chloe's perspective which I, in all honesty, 100% did not plan but I'm not upset about it.

How the group managed to get dragged into a squad camping trip by Jake was unclear to them all. But here they were, crammed into Christine's dad's minivan with various camping supplies strapped to the top.

"Ugh, where the hell are we even going anyway?"

"Calm down, Chloe. Jake promised us this would be fun! He's got it all planned out! Just give it a chance."

"Brooke, it better be or I'm going to be upset that I wasted a whole weekend stuck with you losers in the outdoors."

"Oh, come on. You love hanging with us losers and you know it." Jeremy rolled his eyes and gave her a gentle shove which resulted in a very unenthused glare back but a mumble of agreement with it. 

Her agreement was quickly cut short, though, when Jake pulled the minivan into a parking lot right next to a seemingly large forest and turned to face the rest of the gang in the back. "We're here, adventurers! Who's ready to go camping, connect with the outdoors, and party like there's no tomorrow?" 

As expected, the only to cheer back was Rich who was always down for a way to make trouble. Everyone else kind of joined along but it was clear there was concern among the group. Christine was the one who brought up the question of where they were staying, "So, um, Jake? Where are we actually going to stay? Is there a cabin around or...?"

"The woods, baby! Just us and a tent in miles of trees."

"Oh absolutely not! Come on, Brooke, we're going home." Chloe grabbed Brooke and tried to pull her away with her but stopped when she realized they were, in fact, in the middle of nowhere and it was going to be a long way home. So, she sat on the ground next to the car while watching everyone else unload their gear and get set to move out. 

"Alright, so there's a really nice spot down by the lake that we can set up camp. We can get there in about an hour and start setting things up after, okay?" The group shared a collective nod in agreement before setting off on their journey, none as excited as Jake or Rich who were setting a fairly fast pace for the group. Jeremy and Michael were in the middle of the pack, and the girls were all trailing behind, carefully avoiding any contact with the plants.

They finally made their way to a dirt path leading down to the shoreline and, after a fair amount of complaining from the girls (It was only Chloe, not that anyone would admit it to her face), the group took a break next to a broken tree stump. 

Rich, who was getting a little antsy with their break, decided he needed a better view to scout the area out. He decided to climb up the stump to get a little more height. He made it up with no problem but, the reckless idiot he was, he was stuck up there. "Jake? I'm stuck..."

The taller boy looked up at Rich and sighed before holding out his arms, "Alright, just jump. I'll catch you." So, Rich jumped. It did not go well.

Instead of a graceful leap into Jake's arms, the shorter boy all but threw himself at him which caused them both to fall and roll down the hill. Right through a large patch of poison ivy. Of course, they would say they were fine but, due to their constant itching and complaining for the rest of the journey, the two boys were quarantined to their own separate tent for the remainder of their time there. That left the other six to figure out what to do while their trusty leader and tour guide on this trip was unavailable.

So, what do you do when you're out in the middle of the woods with no plans? Build a campfire, of course. And let me tell you if Rich had been outside of his tent instead of doing whatever while with Jake, he would have been proud. The remaining teens built a picture-perfect fire right on the beach and all sat around it just looking at the crystal water for a while. It was a clear night with an open sky and the world's best sunset. After that got boring, the crew decided on truth or dare. Everyone was on board and even Jenna promised to keep whatever was said between those there and not post it which was definitely a big step for her. 

It started off pretty mild but quickly ramped up. "Christine. I dare you to jump in the lake!" Brooke grinned as she shouted the dare. The girl refused to turn down the dare and went diving into the murky water, running back in soaking wet clothes and shivering to no end. After that, she decided to end her part in the game and go warm up as much as she could in her sleeping bag. Jenna gratefully joined her, fearing how the dares might escalate and not wanting to be caught up in them. That left Jeremy, Michael, Brooke, and Chloe alone in the dimming light. 

"Okay, Jeremy, your turn. Truth or dare." Chloe turned to the boy and gave him an expectant look. 

"Uh, truth, I guess." 

She thought for a moment before finally asking her question, "Who do you like?" Everyone knew he used to have a crush on Christine but the pair quickly broke up as they both claimed it didn't feel right. Deep down, Chloe knew she probably shouldn't pry, but she couldn't help it. She was curious. 

Even in the dim light from the campfire, she could tell Jeremy turned bright red before mumbling, "No one." 

"Oh come on, there has to be someone! Is it someone in our group?"

Jeremy froze at her last questions before he seemingly couldn't take it anymore and shot up from where he was sitting next to Michael and walked away. The rest of the group sat there, trying to decipher what just happened to no avail. 

Chloe sighed and stood up, figuring she needed to fix this since she was the one who caused it. She eventually found him leaning against a makeshift railing some other wanderers had put up in the past and looking out at the water. "You know, you kind of freaked us all out there earlier."

"Yeah sorry."

"Was it something I said? If it's me, I totally get it. I mean who doesn't like me?"

Her only response was a glare before his focus was back out towards the water. Chloe let out a soft sigh. Here went nothing.

"Listen, I know I call you all losers but you're my friend, Jeremy. So I'm sorry if I said something. I just need to make sure you're okay. None of us would care whatever's the matter, okay? You can talk to us."

"I can't though. It's not that."

Chloe wasn't having it. "I swear, if you don't sit here and tell me what the hell is going on with me, you'll regret it." She put in as much into her threat as possible, though they both knew it was meaningless (well at least mostly).

"It's just. I. I like Michael. Okay? But how am I supposed to tell him that? It's not like he would ever like me back after what I did to him. So it's pointless, you know?"

"Oh Jerry, you have so much to learn. Do you really think he would stay with you through all this if he didn't care? I think you should go talk to him, okay? Tell him how you feel and, well, if he doesn't feel the same then you're no worse off. Listen," she rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, "anyone would be lucky to have you. And if I'm right about this which I usually am, Michael is no fool. Okay?"

He slowly nodded, a small grin ghosting his face. 

"Good. Now you better go back there and have a talk with that boy. Tell Brooke to come over here so you two can be alone for it." 

And so, Jeremy left and Brooke took his place and the two girls stared out into the endless water and the shimmering night sky. And when they went back to their tent and snuggled in together, she couldn't stop herself from thinking back on the conversation before drifting into a warm sleep.

In the morning, the group decided to head home for Jake and Rich's sake. As agreed upon, nothing was discussed from the previous night, but Chloe didn't miss the way Michael and Jeremy held onto each other through the whole walk back and on the ride home and she couldn't help but smile as she looked at the group she called friends. She would never admit it to anyone, but Chloe was truly proud to call them her own and wouldn't trade them for the world.


	5. Why do I always make superhero AUs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy is a superhero and gets into some deep trouble. I guess. (also, not in any way correlated to my main superhero fic)

This was not what she was expecting when Jeremy invited her to a picnic at the park. Sure, they hadn't been dating that long, but Christine was expecting a cute checkered blanket, a basket, and maybe a romantic sunset. Was that too much to ask for? Apparently, because all she got was her boyfriend pacing back and forth, his hood up and looking far too frantic for her liking as he finally slowed to a stop to lean against the railing separating them from the reflecting water. She took this as a sign that maybe he had calmed down so she rested a hand on his shoulder. 

"Jere, what's going on? Come on, talk to me. Why are we here?"

He turned to her and any sense of peace she may have had quickly fled her body as his panicked eyes met hers, "Do you trust me?"

"Y-yes. Of course, I do. Why wouldn't I trust you?"

"Good. Then I need you to promise me you'll get as far away from here as possible. Okay? Promise me. Please."

"Okay, I promise. But, Jeremy, why? Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"I just can't. Okay. I did something bad. You'd hate me if I told you. Everything will be okay, though, I promise. You just have to get out of here." Jeremy shoved the basket he had brought with them into her hands, "This has food and clothes and some money to get you out. Take Michael's car and just drive."

"What about you? I'm not going to just leave you here."

He huffed out and glanced around as if he was expecting someone to jump out at any second before taking off his watch and putting it in her hand, closing her fingers around it. "You have to. I'm sorry, Christine, but you have to go. I'll be fine, I promise." He pulled her in and kissed her as what felt like a final goodbye before sprinting into the towering woods behind them, disappearing into the brown and green.

"Jere! Wait!" She was alone, hoping that he would turn around and come back saying that it was all a joke but she knew it wasn't. So, she decided she would keep her promise, at least mostly. Putting on his watch, the only thing really tying her to him right now, she was determined to find out what was going on with her boyfriend. She wouldn't let him go through whatever he was going through alone, no matter how hard he would try to get her out of it. Still, she did as he wished and drove Michael's car to her aunt's house a couple of towns away and waited a few days. She never would have guessed what would have happened in those days she waited and she would never forgive herself.

***

Jeremy's POV - In the woods

It was the right decision to send her away. Of course, it was. There was no other choice. Jeremy wouldn't let him take Christine. Not after he'd already gotten Michael. He squeezed his eyes shut, the memory flashing through his mind of the yellow police tape circling his best friend's house. Glass everywhere.

_"Officer, what's going on?"_

_"You can't be here, kid. This is a closed crime scene."_

Of course, he still managed to sneak in. Being able to swing from webs and jump abnormally high onto, say, roofs, had its benefits. What he saw, though, carved into the wall would make him wish he hadn't. **SHE'S NEXT.** That led him to send her as far away as possible, knowing he wouldn't be able to cope enough if both of the closest people in his life were in the Squip's grasp. So, he did what he did best, he swung, trying to clear his head and think of some way out of this. He didn't stop until he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. An unknown number with an address listed. Jeremy had a pit in his stomach, knowing this was most likely a trap but it's not like he had any other choice. He grabbed his mask from stuffed inside his backpack and started on his way, hoping this would all work out.

When he got there, he released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as he saw his best friend. Granted, he was tied to a chair and a little worse for wear, but he was alive and that's what mattered. Jeremy ran over to Michael and started untying him from his chair. 

"Oh thank god you're alright. Michael, I'm so sorry."

"Yes. He's fine. For now, at least, Jeremiah." His friend spoke but the young hero froze when he heard the voice, too proper and wrong for his friend. Had his mask not been on, the other would have seen all the blood drain from his face in horror. It couldn't be. 

"No, no, no. This can't be happening." Jeremy stumbled back, foot catching on the now untied ropes and falling back to the ground.

"Oh yes, it can." The red-hooded boy stood, rubbing his now free wrists and walked toward the panicked boy on the floor. "You see, your dear Michael is mine now." 

"No, it can't be! Why?!" He mustered all the anger he could to try to, not very well, hide the evident fear in his eyes.

The puppet of his friend had finally backed him into a corner, blocking thoughts of escape, "You see, you tried to stop me and my plan. I can't have that. So let's just say this is revenge." His face wore a twisted smile, making Jeremy want to gag at how wrong it was. "However, I have a proposition to make for you. I think it is quite beneficial for both of us. I'll give you Michael back but in return, I need you to spend some time, hm, how to put this? Preoccupied so I can do my work." 

"What do you mean by preoccupied? How about neither?" Jeremy knew whatever the Squip had in mind wasn't going to be good but, still, he would do anything do keep his friends safe. 

"Well, you see, in a few minutes, the police will arrive as _someone_ dropped an anonymous tip about a kidnapping and other various related crimes. I want you to confess. They're going to find you here, anyway. It's just whether you want your poor best friend to take the blame and be subjected to a life in prison for killing the city's hero or whether it will be you. Your choice but the clock is ticking." 

Jeremy struggled to think of some way out of this but he knew the villain was right. HE had already pinned him to the ground and had clearly thought it all through but he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for what this would do to the people of the city. They would be devastated. But, he knew he had to do it. He couldn't let his best friend stay under that mad man's control any longer. So, he stopped struggling and resigned himself to his fate. "I'll do it."

Squip-Michael released his grip. "I knew you'd make the right decision. Now, web me back up to the chair. We've got to really sell it so they believe it." 

Jeremy somberly followed the instructions, creating makeshift restraints as he heard sirens closing in, "You better keep your end of the bargain, Squip. This isn't over, I promise you." 

"Trusting me is just a risk you're going to have to take, my boy. And believe me, for you, it is just beginning. Don't worry, though, I won't tell them who you are. At least not yet." 

Jeremy had no response, only tugging down his mask even further to make sure no one could take it off and dropped to his knees with his hands up as the doors were bashed open and the room was flooded with people. He felt a small prick in his neck and felt darkness enclose him. The last thing he remembered was Michael giving him a wink before oblivion swarmed him.

He woke up aching all over his body and, for a blissful moment, couldn't remember what happened before the events flooded through his head. He panicked for a second, worrying if his suit was still on before he opened his eyes and saw the red. His deadlock system had worked. That or they hadn't even tried to remove it. Either way, Jeremy now could focus on where he actually was. He glanced around and discovered that he must have been in an interrogation room. It was dimly lit with two chairs across a table from him. The table he was so kindly handcuffed to. He glanced to his left and saw what he assumed was a two-way mirror. No doubt someone on the other side was watching him. Sure enough, in walked an officer who had a glare that could compete with Christine's on a bad day.

"Well, Spiderman. Glad to see you're awake." The man slid into one of the chairs, never taking his eyes off the boy. Jeremy figured it would be best if he kept quiet until he figured out a way out of the mess. He had to make sure his friends were okay, mainly if Michael was back to normal. But for now, he would wait. "Not going to talk, eh? That's fine. I can wait here all day. All I want to know is why you did it." 

Jeremy continued to sit in silence, staring at the man drinking his coffee and, after a while, becoming acutely aware of his own thirst. Whatever they gave him to knock him out must have dried out his mouth. It's fine. He could wait it out. 

He was not expecting the man across from him to have the same determination. They must have sat that way, dead silent, for two hours. Or it could have been twenty minutes, Jeremy wasn't quite sure of how time went in this room. All he knew was that he couldn't keep waiting forever. 

Dropping his voice low, in an attempt to hide both his identity and the fact that he was a teenage boy, he asked, "What happened to the boy? Is he okay?" 

The man quirked an eyebrow but gave an answer, "He's fine. No thanks to you." 

That wasn't the answer Jeremy was looking for, "Has he said anything?"

"Why do you care? Want to make sure he doesn't say something he shouldn't?"

"Please. I just need to know he's okay." He didn't want to beg, but he needed to make sure Michael was okay before he made any sort of plan. 

"If you're really that desperate, fine. He's fine. Keeps saying he doesn't remember anything that happened so whatever you did must have really messed him up. Though, the kid's freaking out about his friend. You know, the other boy that went missing." 

Jeremy froze. What other boy? It had only been Michael. Couldn't have been Christine. And then it hit him. He was the other boy. That's why the Squip wouldn't reveal his identity. He was giving him a choice. Either reveal his identity himself or be stuck here. Still, The fact that Michael was worried about him was good. Though, he knew it could still be the Squip. There was hope and that's all he needed. 

"What other boy?" He had to play it off. Knowing who they were talking about was too easy of a win for them. 

The detective rolled his eyes, clearly already pinning him guilty. "You know, the other boy you kidnapped. Jeremy Heere. His friend told us about him the day we arrested you. Kids still hidden wherever you put him, though. So you wanna tell us where he is?" 

What was he even supposed to say? That he didn't know? That he would let him die? How was he supposed to get out of this mess? And why did the man say the day they arrested him? How long had he been knocked out? 

"How long have I been here for?"

Apparently, he had had enough of the hero's questions, "Nuh-uh, you don't get to ask any more questions around here. You only get to answer mine, got it?" 

Jeremy almost nodded but refused to give in. So he all but glared at the man. He knew what he had to say to get out of this, he just didn't know if he could do it. He had to. Clearing his throat, Jeremy dropped his voice dangerously low, "Listen, if you don't let me out of here, I promise you, that boy will not be okay. He's fine now, but he won't be. It's your choice of what happens to him." 

With that, the detective shot up and stalked out of the room. 

The news of Spiderman's conviction of kidnapping and murder went up the next day along with the mourning of Jeremy Heere.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The future if The Play ended badly. There's my terrible and hella vague summary

Michael was running. Truth be told, he hadn't stopped running since that fateful day at the school play as he watched his best friend's last chance to be free pour out of a bottle by Christine. Of course, they both should have known the squip wouldn't let her drink the last few drops of mountain dew red remaining. Hindsight was 20/20 right. Still, he daydreams of what it would have been like had she drank it. The scene in his head showed a complete and total squip shutdown. All of his unfortunate classmates free from the hive-mind and most importantly his best friend. It's dreams like those, where he greets the boy in his hospital bed and cheers him on as he finally accepts himself, that give Michael the peace he needs to keep going. 

A lot has changed since then. Years have gone by. Long enough to where he should have been well on his way to his happy adult life. But, if there's one thing he understands, is that happy endings are a lost cause at this point. Still, he runs, tracking down any evidence of a way to stop the now dominant army of squipped citizens in the world. After the play, squips spread like wildfire. First controlling the teens and, gradually, the adults fell victim too. Not that he was surprised, though. That must have been the plan all along. Still, he didn't quite know how he wasn't one of them. By all accounts, there was no reason he shouldn't have been. They had him surrounded but, after Christine dumped the bottle, Jeremy gave him one last look and then the rest of the cast just let him go. Let him run away in a sprint that would rarely slow. 

He was determined to save his best friend, no matter how long it had been. He made a promise and he intended to keep it. Still, it wasn't a very good life being on the run, if he had to admit. He'd found home in the abandoned Menlo Park Mall. Sure, it was dark and dingy and there were bits of glass everywhere, but he'd found that the long-dead plant decorations in the middle were a decently comfortable bed. Better than the solid ground, at least. Plus it gave him a place to easily hide his things in case of emergency and a quick escape. 

Making himself comfortable, Michael pulled out his map, considering he had long since abandoned his phone. It made him more difficult to track that way. It's not that he was a criminal, by any means, it was just that he wasn't on the right side of the law. That side being happily squipped of course. And he was one of a very limited amount these days so quite a great deal of their focus had been tracking him down. Of course, he knew that one way or another, he would be captured, but he needed to make sure he had a plan to take down their leader first. A plan to take down Jeremy.

***

Rich's POV

Sure, he guessed he should be glad about his circumstances. The fact that Rich has some sense of self left due to him being squipped before Jeremy and his squip began their takeover should be a blessing. The fact that he was the lead detective in the newly reformed police department should be a good thing too. Yet, here he was, sitting in a lonely office, trapped in a 'perfect' world where he didn't truly belong because he had his own mind still, well at least most of the time. Only a sigh filling the empty silence, Rich pulled out the latest case file. Seeing the four neatly organized categories that the file had been split into, he quickly skipped past the first, nearly empty folder of suspects right onto the evidence. Of course, there was only one real suspect in this city. The lone survivor in the plague that was the squips. Michael. He was the only one still functional enough to even consider crime these days. That's probably why Rich was placed as a detective. Not a very important job in a world where there's one criminal. 

Still, he scanned through the pages, stopping at the picture of a muddy shoeprint or at least he hoped it was mud. He figured he'd have to go take a look, anyway. Pushing himself back from his desk and fixing his badge to avoid the shock growing from the familiar tingle at the base of his neck, he set off to the bank where Michael had gone and done yet another reckless act, growing the list of offenses against him. When he finally made it, the walk taking a little over fifteen minutes, he took an overall look at the scene. Squatting low to the ground, Rich was glad to confirm, not that he would let anyone else know that, that the print was in fact mud. It was odd, though. Usually, Michael was so careful. Rarely left a trail. Granted, this was one print, but still. He knew better. 

Suddenly, Rich felt something cold press into his back and he heard a rough voice, clearly unused for a while, "Are you alone?"

"Yes." He slowly raised his hands, not wanting this to escalate. 

"Is that you or your squip talking? Rich?"

He couldn't help it. It couldn't be. Rich whipped around to face the unknown voice. He took in the sight before him. His face was covered with a bandana. Hair a little longer, clothes a little dirtier, but he still had on his signature hoodie. "Michael.."

The one standing looked as if he wanted to break his tense grasp of the metal bat he was carrying, but refused to until he was sure. 

"I-it's me. It's me. I swear. My squip's not even here right now." 

That gave Michael all the confirmation he needed before he dropped down and pulled the other into a hug. "Rich. Thank god. I didn't think it would be possible." 

He tightly hugged back, relieved to know he was okay. "It is. But it's just me. But Michael, why are you here? This is a crime scene. Your crime scene." 

"I know, I know. I was just about to leave again too. I, uh, had to bring this here." He gestured to a half-open duffel bag on the floor next to him. Rich peeked inside and couldn't help the small gasp that escaped as he saw the bundles of money inside. 

"You brought it back? Why?"

"Well, technically it's not all of it. But, I needed money for something and it was going to cost a lot that I didn't have so I had to make do. I couldn't just keep the rest for myself, though. I'm not that kind of criminal." He let out a small huff of laughter to try and play it off. 

Rich frowned, though, "You self-sacrificial ass. You could have gotten yourself killed, you know? What if I wasn't head detective, huh? Ever think about that? What if someone else had come in here? Think a little smarter next time, will ya!"

"Well, see, I kind of knew you were the detective. And so I kind of set it up too so that you would come back here. Because I kind of need your help." 

Rich sighed, knowing he was not going to like where this was headed. "What kind of help? What are you planning this time?" 

This caused Michael to widely grin, "What am I planning? A complete squip shutdown of course. You in?"

"Oh hell yes. I'm in."

*** 

Michael's POV again

Michael started leading the detective to his hideout, making sure to take the backroads to avoid prying eyes. He stopped at a stop sign though, to give his respects, thinking of those he lost at their makeshift memorial. 

"Micah, what are you doing? Shouldn't we keep going?"

He shook himself out of his thoughts, "Yeah, sorry, you're right. I just, it's a sort of tradition for me."

Rich stopped himself from moving forward, then, curiosity getting the best of him as he looked at the sign. It was nothing out of the ordinary, save for a few stickers on the bottom. Why was this one any different than the other hundreds of signs in the city. 

Michael seemed to know what he was thinking so he thought it best to give him the full explanation, fully knowing the time it would take in the middle of the open but determined that his friends deserved at least this recognition. 

"We formed a little ragtag rebellion so to speak when this all started. It was nothing much. Me, Madeline, Dustin. A few other people. All of us high schoolers and none of us knowing what to do. All we had was each other so we got pretty close. A couple of months passed, maybe a year, and the squip squad caught Madeline. None of us knew what happened to her, still don't. She was probably dead, though. So we decided to hold a funeral. Nothing much, but we needed to make sure she would be remembered. Earlier that week we found a pack of stickers and Madeline picked out that pink one that said LICK on it. Thought it was the best thing ever. So, we decided to put it on the stop sign closest to our hideout as a way of remembrance. From that day on, we all picked our own stickers and promised each other that if anyone were to die or get captured, their sticker would go on the stop sign..." 

"H-how many are left?" Rich knew the answer, deep down, but he wouldn't believe it until he heard it. 

"Just me." Michael dropped his head, clearly done talking about it before pulling Rich's arm forward, "Come on. We're almost there." 

They got to the mall and Michael halted in front of the dead plant arrangements. "Alright, this is it. I need you to promise me you're on my side in this. Okay?"

"Of course. I promise. I want to be free of this just as much as you."

"Okay, then look." Michael stuck his hand into a pot blending into the dirt to pull out a bottle of mountain dew red. Rich couldn't believe it. There was still one left. "I need you to take me in to see Jeremy. It's the only way, Rich."

"Mountain dew red! You found one? But where?"

"It took a lot of looking but it was just luck I guess. 'S why I needed the money." 

"Dude, that's amazing! Give it to me." The detective held out a hand toward the other.

Michael held onto the bottle, giving Rich a suspicious glance. He'd been fooled one too many times by a squip to give up his one chance at saving the world to him. 

"Michael. Hand over the bottle." 

He froze, ice flooding his veins. Rich's squip must have taken over. Of course, he would never be lucky enough to end it that easily. He was right. The squip was always one step ahead. Michael took a silent step backward, away from his friend. 

The other took an equal step forward, reaching to his side to reveal a handgun that was now pointed at Michael. "I said, give me the mountain dew red. You don't really think we would go down that easily, do you?" A cruel grin spread unnaturally on the shorter's face as he pulled the trigger. 

Michael just barely managed to jump out of the way, years of video games and basically apocalyptic living himself coming in handy. He then launched himself at Rich and the two struggled to gain control of the weapon. In the midst of the battle, another shot rang out and the squipped boy's tension went slack as he collapsed to the ground. A moment of shock passed before Michael dropped to the ground next to him. 

"R-r-rich? No, please. You're okay. It'll all be okay." He held his hands to the bleeding chest of the boy, trying, in vain, to staunch the bleeding.

Apparently, the squip had decided to accept the deadly defeat as Rich came back into control, "Michael? I'm sorry. I-I couldn't s-stop it-t."

"Shh shh, it's okay. You'll be fine. I promise. It'll all be okay. You'll be okay." He couldn't help the tears trickling down his face as he held his dying friend in his arms.

"Y-y-you g-gotta do i-it. Okay? P-promise me."

Michael moved a hand to grip one of Rich's, "I promise."

"Good. N-now go sa-ave the w-worl.." With that, Michael saw the life leave his eyes as the rest of the tension of his body went lax.

He stared at his bloodstained hands as he backed away from his body. "I'm sorry," he whispered, silent tears running down his cheek. "I'm so sorry." 

With one last look, Michael turned and ran out of the mall, clutching the bottle in one hand and his worn-out backpack on his shoulder in the other. He would do this for Rich. He had to.

Stopping one last time at the stop sign, Michael pulled out his last two stickers and carefully put them up next to the rest. He was either going to die doing this or save the world. Either way, he knew the memorial would stand, dying in importance with him.

With his head held high, he took off toward Jeremy. Toward saving the world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the BMC girls are friends now and you can't prove me wrong. Also, this is just the girls having a girl day.

"Christine, you can't possibly be serious. We're going to what?"

"Oh come on, Chloe. She said it would be fun! You love parties."

"Oh, you're right. But if it's not fun, I'm blaming you for dragging me into this, Brooke." 

Christine grinned as the two agreed and looked over at Jenna, "Are you in too, Jenn? It'll be fun. I promise."

"I don't know. What exactly is it?"

"It's a Woodstock night at the mall! They've got games, photo booths, I'm pretty sure there'll be some live music and dancing, and, best of all, everyone there is dressing up in full costume attire! It'll be great!"

"Well if it'll be so great, count me in! Girl's trip!" Jenna wrapped her arms around the three other girls and pulled them close just long enough for them all to take a selfie. 

After getting dressed in their appropriate decade's attire, everyone having to significantly change their looks except Brooke who pretty much stayed the same, the group went off. Even Chloe, who was not thrilled at the beginning, was digging the new look with her crop top and printed pants that she claimed could absolutely not be from that era since none of them had any fashion sense back then.

They all piled in Jenna's Corolla and took off toward the Menlo Park Mall. Before they got there, Christine, who was manning the map in shotgun, stopped Jenna, "Wait! Pull into this parking lot! This one right here!"

"But the mall parking lot is right over there," the driver gestured over to where the mall was clearly visible, not to the surprisingly full though usually abandoned parking lot she was turning into. 

"I know, I know. But this is where they told us to park in the invite! They said there was a surprise." 

"Oh yeah, because we always trust surprises from anonymous invites."

"Shut up, Chloe."

"No, you shut up, Brooke." 

The two continued bickering all the way up until Jenna found a parking spot and did the only thing she knew how to in order to stop the fight. She break-checked and sent both girls' heads flying into the seat in front of them. Needless to say, they got the point and stopped talking. 

Immediately after they stopped, Christine rocketed herself out of the car, "Come on, come on, come on. We're gonna miss it!" 

"Gonna miss what?"

"The shuttle!" 

As the rest of the girls got out of the car and walked towards their friend, they all understood. There, before them, was a bright yellow Volkswagon van that was clearly there to act as a shuttle and prop to set the mood for their faux Woodstock in the mall. To be honest, they were all kind of impressed. So, they had to keep catching up to their speedy friend who had already hopped onto the bus like she was a kid getting into a van for free candy. Getting on, it seemed the theme was not only on the outside of the bus as the inside was covered completely in old newspapers and records and old paraphernalia to take everyone back in time. It was truly magical.

The bus took them and dropped them off at the front of the mall which looked completely different than any of them remembered. Out front was yet another Volkswagon van. Someone had, clearly for a reason not related to the festival, painted the outside and Brooke was pretty excited when she saw the front had her favorite Panic! At The Disco album cover on it. Of course, she forced (or lightly encouraged in her words) the rest of the gang to take a photo with it. 

This started what would become one of the girl gang's collective fondest memories together. They went around, first, just looking at all of the decorations and posing for different photo-op moments together. The decorations were a blend of old and modern and all around ended up piquing the interest of all the girls. Jenna made Christine take a picture of her in front of the neon glowing angel wings on the wall, saying how perfectly they matched her style. None of the other girls would disagree with her, of course. The wings were just as dramatic as she was. 

Chloe, who the girls who hadn't known, showed her gamer side as she found an old bowling video game that she somehow managed to get the high score on along with several other old games none of the others knew how to play. She managed to figure out every single one of them and pass the old high scores with ease. 

Christine, after they had scavenged the whole building for new and unique areas, pulled all of her friends out onto the dancefloor as the bands played. Granted, they were the only ones out there when they started, and for the majority of the time as it was, but they all danced for the rest of the time. Looking around, she couldn't help but grin at her friends who were belting out the lyrics to all the songs being played even if they didn't really know the words. She somehow got lucky enough to be thrown together with them. 

When, finally, the night ended and they had to head back home, the group swore to each other that, if the opportunity arose again, they would do it again every consecutive year after. And they did. Even after they all went away to different colleges in different cities and states, they all came together on their special weekend and went and acted like high school kids again. They stopped at the same photo areas, ate the same junk food they did from their first time, and danced until their feet threatened to go numb until they were kicked out. They did this until it finally closed down but that didn't stop them. On the last year of their community Woodstock, all the girls pitched in to buy the big yellow van so that they could keep a little part of their history alive not only in their memories. And every year after, they would throw a little party inside that van together just to celebrate.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ummmm I'm gonna be honest and say that it's just kind of spooky

Jeremy groaned as he rolled over in his bed to look at his phone that had been buzzing uncontrollably for the past fifteen minutes. Of course, he tried to ignore it due to the fact that it was three in the morning, but he couldn't take it anymore. It was nights like this that he regretted not keeping it on silent mode all the time. Maybe then he could get some decent sleep. Not tonight, though. Nope, tonight everyone he ever knew or followed on social media was awake and making sure he didn't get sleep. 

Groaning, he finally conceded as he looked at the far too bright screen. As expected, the whole screen was full of various notifications and calls from his friends. The most recent from Michael. Still, though, he notices an alert at the top of his screen and, out of curiosity more than anything, tapped it to see more. Frowning, he read the notice. All that was said was DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON. 

Alright, weird, but there was a reason, right? I mean, it was probably nothing, though. Probably just some test announcement to see if the government could send out alerts like this. They probably didn't think it would work so they thought they would make it some random announcement. Made sense. Yeah, that was probably it. Probably nothing to worry about. Now, since he was awake, he might as well see what everyone else was freaking out about. Probably just the announcement. 

He was wrong. Or at least partially. Instead of everyone commenting on the absurdity of the announcement, they were commenting on the sky. He saw a post by even Christine saying how beautiful of a night it was. Which was odd considering Christine was always one to go to bed and stay in bed asleep all night. Always. She was a good student that way. So that was odd. 

He figured he would figure out at least some part of what was going on so he called Michael. When the other boy picked up the phone in greeting, Jeremy felt like something was off.

"Yo, Michael. What's going on?"

"Jeremy, haven't you looked outside? You have to look at the moon, man."

"Yeah... but what about the announcement? I mean, what' so special about it?"

"I can't say. You've just got to see it."

Jeremy sighed, feeling as though this might not be a fluke announcement after all if his gut had anything to say about it. Still, he got out of bed and went over to the window to look outside. "Alright, I'm looking. What am I supposed to see?"

"You really don't see it? Look at the moon, Jeremy."

He looked at it. He really did. But he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was completely eclipsed with a purple glow covering the sky. A little weird but it was probably just the lighting. "Yeah, I see the moon. It just looks normal though. What? Is it supposed to be magical or something?"

"That's the thing. It's not. but it was also completely full ten minutes ago."

"What? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like! The moon was completely full just a while ago. Something is passing across it!"

That was ridiculous. Of course there nothing was passing across it. However, even as they had been talking, Jeremy looked up and saw that it looked as if the moon was peaking out a little more than before. But that was crazy. Still, it did seem that way. "Alright, fine. Maybe it is. But why is everyone freaking out about it?"

"We're not, dude. We're just admiring how beautiful the night is right now. That's all."

"...Yeah. Alright. Well, I'll talk to you later, then. I guess. See you at school tomorrow." With that, he hung up the phone, not liking the uneasiness that came over him. Michael's words had not only been similar, but they had been identical to Christine's post. In a panic, Jeremy scrolled through his phone to find, in horror, that the rest of the posts in the past twenty minutes were all identical. He didn't even realize he was shaking from the panic that struck him. It was fine. Probably just a really well thought out practical joke. Yeah, that was probably it. 

He got out of bed and decided to take a shower to clear his mind. That would help. He got to the bathroom and turned on the shower. However, his plans were cut short when, instead of a normal clear water, a neon liquid came pouring out of the facet. A screech left his throat involuntarily as he jumped back. What the hell was happening? He had to get out of here. Throwing on a hoodie and some pants, he grabbed his keys for his silver Corolla and ran out the door. He refused to look up, feeling as though looking up at the moon while outside might somehow make him as mindless as everyone else. Instead, he figured he would drive to Brooke's apartment. She was always going on and on about conspiracy theories. Who knows? Maybe she had an idea of what this was. He drove down the neon-lit streets, glancing at the scores of people staring up at the sky together. It was freaking him out. He didn't know if the purple reflecting off the wet cement was from the shining signs or from the sky itself. Either way, he refused to look up and check. Instead, he just kept driving. He got to the apartment and raced up the stairs before knocking on the door. Her mom opened the door. He probably should have been surprised due to it nearing four in the morning at this point, but he hadn't thought that far.

"Hi. I'm looking for Brooke. Is she here?"

"Who?"

He frowned. "Brooke. Your daughter? Brooke?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about, darling, but this is my apartment. My husband and I have been living here for six months."

"Yeah, I know. You and your daughter too. Where is she?" 

"I am sorry, young man. I still don't know who you're looking for." All of a sudden, it seemed like a switch flipped in Brooke's mom, "But have you seen the sky tonight? It is a beautiful night out." 

With that, Jeremy turned heel and fled. What was happening to people? Where was Brooke? And why hadn't anything happened to him?

He got in his car and started driving again. He didn't know where he was going, he just needed to get away from everyone else. After following a winding road through a forest, he finally pulled over near the tall trees and sighed. Glancing up, he saw the moon was shining full now and he took in a breath. Looking up at the sky, everything else faded away. Nothing else really mattered, and hey, they were right, the night was really beautiful tonight.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did I write something that was solely exposition? Yes. Yes I did.

This was it. This was the end. How could this have happened? Everything was fine two weeks ago. Everyone was happy and alive and okay. How could it all have changed so quickly?

It all started a couple of weeks before. They were all sitting in the cafeteria when the principal came out and told everyone they needed to go home and that school was closed until further notice. No explanation or anything. Just get home and get ready to do online classes. Great. Awesome. Of course, everyone was just happy to be out early and no one was going to argue with it. So, they all went home to hear the news that would shake the world. No one thought it would until a few days later. 

The news came out and everyone was shocked. But also a little doubtful. I mean, come on, a zombie virus? It didn't even fit anything about zombies. Did they even know the first thing about them? No. Because this was not even close to what a zombie was. First off, sure they were technically dead, but that only meant that they didn't need to eat. They didn't eat brains or anything. Infection was airborne which really sucked but it was fine. Face masks were pretty rare but thankfully his school provided one for most of the students so they were fine. Mostly at least. All that mattered was they didn't have to run away from those infected. Sure they were gross and greying but that was mostly from the fact that they all just didn't eat and wandered around aimlessly trying to think. That's all it really was. A loss of knowledge. I guess that part stayed with the stereotype. This, of course, led to the fact that most of the infected resulted in violence because they didn't know what else to do. It inflamed the amygdala which led to the main part of their brains being focused on reactions and aggression. It made sense. Still wasn't fun though. Still a lot of running away. Just not running away to avoid being eaten. Instead, to avoid getting attacked from the psycho non-eating zombies. 

At least life was still pretty normal. Thankfully the government pretty recently put robots in place for everything so nothing really changed that much as far as apocalyptic expectations were concerned. There was still power and groceries and internet and everything, so no one took it super seriously. As far as Jeremy and his friend group were concerned, they were all just in a lame quarantine with nothing but video games and each other to be concerned about. So, as a group of rebellious teenagers does, they decided to take a road trip. Of course, this was not a well thought out plan. It was all started by Chloe, Brooke, and Jenna while they were completely ignoring all quarantine regulations and hanging together at the park. Christine was invited but, let's be real, she was freaking out too much about breaking the rules to actually come with. So, instead, the other three discussed how they should take this time to go exploring on a big squip squad road trip and just live a little while they still had the chance. They sat on the slide and just talked through the night about their plans. They'd buy a bunch of food, all pile into Michael's car and just drive into the woods. Camp out wherever. Go see the ocean. Go see the mountains. Just anything and everything before the virus caught up to them.

Eventually, they called the boys up and somehow even got Christine to come out and hang with them to discuss the plan. By this point, the crew had moved on over to the swing set for a larger discussion area. All in all, everyone was in. Obviously Rich was in due to his love of insane ideas, Jake and Jeremy were dragged into it through some pleading which meant that Christine and Michael were pulled into it as well. Of course none of them genuinely thought this plan would be out into action anyway so it was no big deal to agree with it. They all laughed and planned for a road trip none of them doubted would actually happen until they saw the sun peak into the sky which sent them on their respective ways. It wasn’t until the virus got really bad to where they all ended up deciding to follow through. No one realized the disease was as real as it was until Jenna got infected. She was fine right up until she wasn’t. They had to drag a heartbroken Christine away as they all piled into Michael’s car. Plan all but forgotten at that point. They just needed to go.

So, off the smaller crew went, squished just a tad too tightly into Michael’s blue, sticker covered car. Of course, the few stickers that littered his back window were nothing to the stickers they would gain in their travels. But right now, all they knew was that they were a pack of theater nerds in masks who were going to have to find a way to save the world and get Jenna back. Or at least, just learn to survive it.

Eventually, the gang got stopped at a gate going out of the city. Apparently, the whole place was on lockdown and no one was allowed in or out so they were demanded to stay in the fence. With a nod and turn, Michael looked like he was going to accept the answer until he veered the car into the unkept grass along the road and just drove until the reached a railroad track. He explained to the group that they had to get out and this was the only way. He’d heard there was a hole in the fence on the tracks and they should be able to sneak out. It paid to stay in the loop with conspiracies. Thankfully, he was right and they grabbed their small bags of belongings and took one last look at their city, skyscrapers just fading out of view before focusing on the journey ahead.

Keeping to the tracks, they just kept walking, hoping to run into some sort of civilized life soon. They had plenty of food for now, but it was getting kind of chilly out and somewhere warm and not dirt to sleep on would be nice. So, they kept trekking through forest along the railroad, cracking jokes to keep things lighthearted but somehow they always drifted silent as the group remembered everyone they lost. As they remembered Jenna. But still they walked.

After a while, they decided that if they hadn’t reached anyone on the railroad yet, they weren’t going to and decided to explore. A quick break later, the group grabbed their lightening backpacks, running lower on food, they decided to go up the mountains to take a better look of the area. Michael pulled his hat over his head and decided to take the lead. By some lucky break, there was a mountain lodge still open where they were greeted by the ever similar and eery hello of the working robot. They took their time to stock up on all the food they could find and even were fortunate enough to stay and sleep there for one blissful night. 

It was after that night where everything went wrong. They woke up that next morning and Christine was gone. Completely vanished. Not only that, but the other girls were acting weird. Like zombie emotional weird. They had to get out of here. The boys rushed out of the lodge as fast as they could, holding back the pained tears that threatened to fall but refused until they were outside, sprinting away. 

It all went downhill from there. They decided to just keep waking to nowhere at that point, aimlessly wandering. It’s when Rich got sick... While seeing the girls turn seemingly overnight, it was worse when their friend was aware and slowly changing. In the end, Jake refused to let him go through it alone and stayed by his side to meet a fateful end as the other two continued their journey. If Jeremy and Michael were being honest, they both knew it wasn’t long before the same happened to them. They could feel it changing already.

Eventually, the remaining pair found themselves staring out at the ocean, the nearest person miles away. And they just sat there, Michael twitching as his rage grew and tears streaming down Jeremy’s face as he took off his mask and resigned himself to whatever was coming. And that is how they stayed until the end.


End file.
